Worship Wars
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Intro:
6 Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days. 7 And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought,
History is filled with acts of war. Throughout scripture we read of physical wars and battles that happened. In each story, there is a hero and a loser.
Moses and Pharoah
David and Goliath
Israel and the Philistines
Recent history is no different.
Hitler against the rest of the world
North Korea against South Korea
The Vietcong against Vietnam
Saddam Hussein against the United States
Generally speaking, war occurs when an egomaniac determines he or she can have their way, expand their borders, and grow their influence, using everything at their disposal.
In studying history, I always like it when the war ends with the dictator’s collapse of power.
The history of war stretches back thousands of years. However, there is another war that has taken place before humanity ever existed.
The war was instigated by the egotistical and arrogant serpent known as Satan. He started the war when he determined to be like God and replace Him on the throne.
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’
His war is different than any we have read about or studied. His goal is not more power, territory, or popularity. No, he is more deluded than that.
His goal is to displace God as the center of worship. He started a war with the Almighty, desiring worship that God alone deserves.
The worship war he started is not over music styles or song choice, it is over WHO we will worship. Therefore, the war going on behind the scenes is NOT between God and Satan. It is between God’s people and Satan.
The moment we align ourselves with God by accepting Christ as our Savior, Satan hates us. He sets his sights on us to persecute and destroy us.
This morning, I want us to look at this war and its culprit, the devil. There is a two-fold trap Satan wants to set:
To assume he does not exist
To give him too much attention
Satan is real, he is not all-powerful, but he is not powerless. I do not preach this message because I want to give attention to Satan. Instead, I want us to see the strategy Satan is setting in our day.
There is a war taking place. I want to look at two parts to this war: [The War in the Past] and [The War in the Future].
Let’s begin
1. The War in the Past
1. The War in the Past
3 And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. 4 His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born.
The book of the Revelation is full of symbolic language. We do not have time to explain it all, but we read of something that took place in the past.
When Satan determined he wanted to be like God and displace His position, God removed him from heaven. When he left, his sole focus has been to stop God’s plans through His creation.
He began his attacks in the Garden of Eden when he deceived Adam and Eve, causing them to sin. The consequence of sin is death for humanity, but it was inevitable defeat for Satan.
15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.”
God looked at the Devil and promised that one day, a woman would have a child and that child would defeat him. Because Satan is not all-powerful or all-knowing, he began his process of intensifying the war.
Starting with Abraham. God promised through Abraham, He would bless the entire world. Therefore, Satan tried to get Abraham and Sarah to not believe.
And it worked, Abraham had a child with Sarah’s servant, who bore a son named Ishmael. But that was not the seed, the lineage God wanted to use to defeat Satan.
When Moses was born, Satan influenced Pharaoh, leading him to kill any male child that came from the descendants of Abraham, the Israelites.
David was set apart as a man after God’s heart. Therefore, Satan filled King Saul with rage, who attempted to kill David over twenty times.
With every generation Satan warred against God’s people, hoping to snuff our and stifle the one who would bring his ultimate demise.
Until one day an angel named Gabriel visited a young lady named Mary with a promise:
31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus.
Jesus’s conception was met with opposition. Satan manipulated Herod to issue a decree to kill all male children under the age of two. Yet Jesus was spared.
Satan went to war with Jesus, doing all he could to stop him. He pulled demonic strings to cause the religious leaders to make it their sole aim to murder Jesus of Nazareth.
Everything went according to plan. Jesus was arrested, put on trial, beaten, bruised, despised, rejected, and mocked. Satan beamed with pleasure as they nailed Him to a cross with a crown of thorns on His head.
Imagine the rejoicing of Satan and the demons when Jesus breathed His last breath, calling out IT IS FINISHED.
Remember, Satan is not all-knowing. In his deluded mind, he thought he succeeded in destroying the Son of God.
But what he did not realize is death, which is the wage of sin, was the tool God used to reverse the judgment of sin. Satan miscalculated God’s path to victory, for after three days:
breath entered Jesus’s body,
the stone was rolled away
and Jesus arose over death, hell, and the grave.
At that moment, the war in the past took a dramatic turn. But the war is not over yet, what about...
2. The War in the Future
2. The War in the Future
7 And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, 8 but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. 9 So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. 10 Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down.
Let’s fast forward to a day in the future. We do not know when this day will occur, but it will happen. A war will break out in heaven. The two sides will be:
Micheal and his angels
The dragon/Satan and his demons
Battles like this are not uncommon, we call this spiritual warfare. Satan comes against God’s people, God dispatches angels to fight on our behalf.
But this time, the war will look different. This time, the war will not be a response to Satan’s taunting or tempting. Revelation 12:7 informs us MICHAEL will instigate this war.
1 “At that time Michael shall stand up, The great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people; And there shall be a time of trouble, Such as never was since there was a nation, Even to that time. And at that time your people shall be delivered, Every one who is found written in the book.
Michael is an important figure. When we read of him in scripture, he is fighting for God against the enemy. This time, he will war with Satan one final time.
At some point He will rise and proclaim, that enough is enough.
It will be as though, Michael will say, Satan you have been at war against God since your name was Lucifer and you said, “I will be like the most high.” But now, enough is enough.
It will be as though Michael will say, Satan, I have been tired of you since you tried to thwart God’s plan in the Garden of Eden, but now, enough is enough.
It will be as though Michael will say, Satan, I have watched you come against Abraham, Moses, David and a host of others throughout the Old Testament, but now enough is enough.
It will be as though Michael will say, Satan, I even witnessed your attempt on the very Son of God’s life. I remember when you and your demons rejoiced at the thought that you had finally devoured the Son of Israel.
But I also watched with joy as the very person you deemed dead rose back to life and defeated you. You have still had access to heaven, you have still attacked God’s people, but now, enough is enough.
I like to think that Michael will say something like this, Satan, throughout the ages you have divided the world, demolished many people and even destroyed many lives. You have come against Christians since the Church was established on the Day of Pentecost.
Satan, you have tried throughout history to stop God’s plan. You have accused Christians before God both day and night, but now enough is enough. There is no longer any room for you in heaven, and I am serving you notice.
Then, Michael will prevail in the war against the Dragon, and Satan and all of his demons will be cast down to earth, never given the opportunity to come against God’s people again!
When he is cast down, which we believe will take place after Jesus takes His church to heaven, the world will experience tribulation unlike anything it has seen.
But heaven will rejoice because the war is about to be won!
There will be a final battle on earth, with Jesus leading the battle riding on a white horse. He will defeat the enemy with the words of His mouth, for He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords.
11 Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. 12 His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. 13 He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. 14 And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. 15 Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. 16 And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS
Then we will live with Christ for 1000 years on earth during which Satan will be bound in the bottomless put, preparing for the day when he will be cast into the lake of fire.
Then we will worship God forever and forever and forever!
Close:
What hope, joy, and peace, fills my heart as I think of this war! Now, to the point of this message. We looked at this war in the past and the future, but how does this war affect us in the present?
I can promise, Satan is not waiting idly by for the future war. He is on the attack RIGHT NOW. Look at our nation and our world.
But we do not look at the things which are seen for they are temporary. We look at the things which are unseen for they are eternal!
What is the war like right now?
I could look at all of the negativity that Satan brings, but I want us to see the hope we have.
11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.
We will overcome through the blood of Jesus, the word of God, and a selfless devotion to the Almighty!
When Satan attacks, we have a three-fold formula for victory against Satan’s attacks.
The blood of the Lamb. Satan tried to devour Israel’s Child. He even saw His blood shed on the cross, but when that blood was shed, it was not in defeat, but it was in power.
There is still power in the blood and we still need to stand and plead the blood.
The word of our testimony. The word of our testimony is two-fold, it is first the Word of God. We stand on the word of God and take action in His word. We proclaim and declare His word! Because His word is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path.
The word of our testimony is also what God has done for us. Let us not be afraid to remind the Devil what God has done for us in our past!
We love not their lives. This means we have an attitude that will not shrink back in the face of attacks because we know that Satan’s time is so short and he will soon be cast out of heaven.
Furthermore, it means that our lives are threatened, Paul said, oh death where is your sting? To live is Christ, to die is Gain. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. Either way we win.
We are here this morning to serve Satan notice. We will worship God until we get through what ails or attacks us. The present war will not defeat us.
But we will rise from this stronger than ever before!
So in this Worship War, let’s determine, I will keep worshipping God HERE until I stand before Him there to worship for eternity!
